Epic Vegan Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

It doesn’t get more epic than this Almost Famous Buffalo Chicken Lasagna from Dustin Harder’s new cookbook Epic Vegan. This meatless dinner dish is vegan comfort food at its finest! In this recipe, lasagna noodles are layered with spicy buffalo sauce, creamy dairy-free blue cheese ricotta, and savory seitan and vegetables.

Epic Vegan

Cooking doesn’t have to be boring, and Dustin Harder is here with his new cookbook Epic Vegan to make sure it isn’t. This fun book encourages you to play with your food and create your own one-of-a-kind dishes. It also proves that there’s more to vegan food than salad.

Epic Vegan is a choose-your-own-adventure style cookbook. It’s full of recipes for basic classics, such as Happy Hash Browns and Easy Creamy Shells and Cheese, and then Dustin gives tips on how to make “epic” versions of them. You can use your hash browns to create a Triple-Decker Breakfast Sammy or Breakfast Platter Dog. Shells and cheese can be made epic by turning them into Mac and Cheese Pretzel Bites or Lobster Mac and Cheese.

This isn’t a cookbook full of easy weeknight meals for busy families. This is a book for those who want to spend time in the kitchen and get creative. Throughout the book, Dustin does offer cooking hacks to streamline and speed up the cooking process, though.

The Chapters in Epic Vegan in Include:

Basic Betty: FUNdamental Recipes

Sauced Up: Sauces, and Dips for Slatherin’ and Dippin’

Brazen Breads: All the Dough You Need

There’s an App for That! Nibbles and Passed Bites for a Crowd

Monster Handhelds: Beastly Bites Fit for Kings and Queens

Pizza Pizza! Cheesus Take the Wheel

Pasta Paradise: The Pastabilities are Endless

Bowls of Stuff: Fork It, Spoon It, Slurp It!

Shake It Off! Chill Sips for Every Occasion

Sweet Emotions: Donut Come for Me! Sweets to Make Friends

Almost Famous Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

Usually when I get a new cookbook I head straight to the mac and cheese recipe. (If there’s no mac and cheese, I often make tacos first.) But whenEpic Vegan arrived, it was the Almost Famous Buffalo Chicken Lasagna that caught my eye, because… well, it’s Buffalo Chicken Lasagna!

Dustin told me that this lasagna is one of his favorite recipes from the book. The recipe does look a little overwhelming at first glance, but he says that why it’s epic! He gave me some tips to cut down on cooking time: make sure you have the seitan prepared (or bought) and prepare the blue cheese before you start to make the rest. And that’s exactly what I did! I went with store-bought seitan to save time, and I made the extra components ahead of time.

“Epic” doesn’t begin to begin to describe the flavor of this dish. You can’t go wrong with this combination of creamy and spicy in my book. It was well worth the time it took to prepare. The recipe makes a lot of lasagna, so I had enough to last several days.

My tips for making Almost Famous Buffalo Chicken Lasagna:

Prepare the seitan the day before you want to make lasagna. Or pick some up at the store.

Get the cashews soaking the night before, too.

Prepare the Blue Cheese Dressing, Buffalo Sauce, and Hemp Parmesan.

Cook the seitan, onion, celery, carrots, and garlic.

While the seitan is cooking, mix together the Blue Cheese Ricotta.

Mix together the Buffalo Cream Sauce.

Assemble the components.

Bake and enjoy!

This is a fun book with uniquely fun recipes. If you want to get creative in the kitchen and play with your food, Epic Veganis the book for you!

Almost Famous Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

I once made a 5-ingredient buffalo chicken dip for the 5-ingredient challenge segment of The Vegan Roadie. I have been looking for the opportunity to revisit that ever since. The minute I put a Blue Cheese Dressing recipe in this book, I knew this was the right time! The combination of spicy and cool flavors between the sauce and dressing, paired with the savory chicken and pasta, can’t be beat.

Instructions

To make the chicken: Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the seitan, onion, carrots, and celery. Sauté for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the seitan has started to brown. Add the garlic and sauté 1 to 2 minutes, until fragrant. Remove from the heat and set aside.

To make the blue cheese ricotta: Crumble the tofu into a medium bowl. Add the dressing, tahini, mustard, and salt. Stir everything together until well combined. Set aside.

To make the buffalo cream sauce: Add the cashews, water, and buffalo sauce to a high-speed blender. Blend for 2 minutes, or until creamy and smooth.

Spread ½ cup (120 mbuffalo cream sauce on the bottom of the prepared dish. Arrange 3 lasagna noodles across the pan. Spread half of the blue cheese ricotta over the noodles and top that with half of the chicken mixture, followed by ½ cup (120 mbuffalo cream sauce and ½ cup (about 65 mozzarella. Make sure the noodles are entirely covered. Repeat layering, starting with a layer of 3 noodles, then the remaining blue cheese ricotta, the remaining chicken mixture, ½ cup (120 mbuffalo cream sauce, and ½ cup (about 65 mozzarella. Top with one last layer of noodles and use the remaining buffalo cream sauce to cover the top, spreading the sauce so the noodles are completely covered. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup (about 130 mozzarella and drizzle the olive oil over the top.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before cutting.

Garnish with parsley and parmesan, if desired.

Recipe Notes

TipTo press the tofu, wrap the block tightly in dry paper towels. Place the wrapped tofu in a colander set in the kitchen sink. Set a small plate on top of the tofu and stack something heavy on top of it (like canned food). Let it sit for 20 minutes to release the water, unwrap, and it’s ready for use. You can also use a tofu press for this. It’s an inexpensive device and perfect for the environmentally conscious. I love the tofu press that I ordered online and use it often.

Simply Seitan

Seitan is one of those versatile items that people seem to be terrified of making. But once you make it, you will come back to it again and again! While you easily can get it in some stores these days, don’t be shy—play around with this recipe and see for yourself just how easy it is to make.

Course
Condiment

Cuisine
American

Keyword
seitan, seitan recipe

Prep Time10minutes

Cook Time1hour10minutes

Yields12servings

AuthorDustin Harder

Ingredients

1½cups(150 g) vital wheat gluten

2tablespoons(10 g) nutritional yeast

1teaspoonpoultry seasoning

1cup(235 ml) water

2tablespoons(30 g) ketchup

Juice of ½ lemon

4cups(940 ml) vegetable broth

¼cup(60 ml) soy sauce

3clovesgarlichalved

Instructions

In a large bowl, whisk together the gluten, nutritional yeast, and poultry seasoning.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the water, ketchup, and lemon juice until well combined.

Add the wet mixture to the dry, and mix together with a fork until well combined. Knead with your hands for about 4 minutes, until a thick elastic dough forms.

In a large saucepan or pot, combine the broth, soy sauce, and garlic. Bring to a boil. Cut the dough in half and place both halves in the saucepan. Return to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Partially cover the pot so that the lid allows steam to escape, and simmer for 30 minutes. Rotate the pieces of dough, flipping them over. Partially cover and simmer for an additional 30 minutes. Uncover, remove from the heat, and let the dough cool completely in the broth.

Seitan can be stored in the broth, covered, and kept in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. It can also be stored in a sealed container (with the brotin the freezer for up to 6 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

Recipe Notes

TipRather than kneading by hand, you can absolutely make this in a stand mixer with the dough hook if you have one available to you. Knead for 2 to 4 minutes on medium speed, or until anelastic dough forms.

Blue Cheese Dressing

In my last book, The Simply Vegan Cookbook, I went about the task of recreating my all-time favorite, nostalgia-laden dressing: RANCH. For this book, I wanted to offer up its slightly more robust and tangier cousin, Blue Cheese. This dressing complements so many items, and it’s nice to have an easy, go-to recipe for it on hand.

Instructions

Add the mayonnaise, tahini, miso, water, lemon juice, mustard, vinegar, and garlic powder to a high-speed blender. Blend until smooth. Add the parsley and black pepper, and pulse a few times until just combined and specks of the parsley and pepper are still visible. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Buffalo Sauce

Ingredients

1cup(235 ml) hot sauce

¼cup(55 g) vegan butter

¼cup(60 g) packed organic dark brown sugar

Instructions

In a small saucepan, combine the hot sauce, butter, and brown sugar. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook for 2 to 4 minutes, or until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Recipe Notes

Hemp Parmesan

In my first book, The Simply Vegan Cookbook, I made a walnut parmesan. In this book, I wanted to create a nut-free version that also packs a nutrient punch, so I turned to the good ole hemp seed. I like to have this condiment handy in the refrigerator to use on pizza and pasta at the ready!

Course
Condiment

Cuisine
American

Keyword
vegan cheese, vegan parmesan

Prep Time3minutes

Total Time3minutes

AuthorDustin Harder

Ingredients

½cup(60 g) hemp seeds

2tablespoons(10 g) nutritional yeast

½teaspoonsea salt

1teaspoonmaple syrup

Instructions

Add the hemp seeds, nutritional yeast, and salt to a high-speed blender or food processor. Blend on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping down the sides if needed. Add the maple syrup, ½ teaspoon at a time, pulsing the mixture until well combined. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Recipe Notes

You can use agave as a substitute if you don’t have maple syrup on hand— or even organic cane sugar if you’re really in a pinch.

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About Me

Hi! I'm Dianne Wenz and I am a Holistic Health Coach, Vegan Lifestyle Coach, Plant-Based Diet Nutrition Specialist, and Plant-Based Chef. I offer group and individual nutrition and lifestyle coaching programs to people across the U.S., and I teach cooking classes in Northern New Jersey. Contact me today to learn more and to schedule a complimentary breakthrough session!

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